The Accreditation Institution

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The Danish Accreditation Institution
Acc institution Logo.png
Agency overview
Formed September 1, 2007 (2007-09-01)
Type School accreditation
Headquarters Denmark
Parent agency Ministry of Science, Innovation, and Higher Education
Child agency
  • ACE Denmark
Website akkr.dk

The Danish Accreditation Institution was established by Danish law as an independent institution in 2007. The institution consists of two entities; the Accreditation Council, which serves as the decision-making authority, and Accreditation Institution, which serves as the accreditation operator. The Council makes decisions on the accreditation of all higher education study programmes in Denmark, both new and existing. [1]

Denmark Sovereign state and Scandinavian country in northern Europe

Denmark, officially the Kingdom of Denmark, is a Nordic country and the southernmost of the Scandinavian nations. Denmark lies southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and is bordered to the south by Germany. The Kingdom of Denmark also comprises two autonomous constituent countries in the North Atlantic Ocean: the Faroe Islands and Greenland. Denmark proper consists of a peninsula, Jutland, and an archipelago of 443 named islands, with the largest being Zealand, Funen and the North Jutlandic Island. The islands are characterised by flat, arable land and sandy coasts, low elevation and a temperate climate. Denmark has a total area of 42,924 km2 (16,573 sq mi), land area of 42,394 km2 (16,368 sq mi), and the total area including Greenland and the Faroe Islands is 2,210,579 km2 (853,509 sq mi), and a population of 5.8 million.

Higher education Academic tertiary education, such as from colleges and universities

Higher education is an optional final stage of formal learning that occurs after completion of secondary education. Often delivered at universities, academies, colleges, seminaries, conservatories, and institutes of technology, higher education is also available through certain college-level institutions, including vocational schools, trade schools, and other career colleges that award academic degrees or professional certifications. Tertiary education at non-degree level is sometimes referred to as further education or continuing education as distinct from higher education. The right of access to higher education is mentioned in a number of international human rights instruments. The UN International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights of 1966 declares, in Article 13, that "higher education shall be made equally accessible to all, on the basis of capacity, by every appropriate means, and in particular by the progressive introduction of free education". In Europe, Article 2 of the First Protocol to the European Convention on Human Rights, adopted in 1950, obliges all signatory parties to guarantee the right to education.

Contents

The Accreditation Council

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As the decision-making authority, the Council is an independent unit in the Accreditation Institution. The chairman and members of the Council must between them possess knowledge and experience on quality assurance, higher education, research and labour market conditions for graduates.

Quality assurance (QA) is a way of preventing mistakes and defects in manufactured products and avoiding problems when delivering products or services to customers; which ISO 9000 defines as "part of quality management focused on providing confidence that quality requirements will be fulfilled". This defect prevention in quality assurance differs subtly from defect detection and rejection in quality control, and has been referred to as a shift left as it focuses on quality earlier in the process i.e. to the left of a linear process diagram reading left to right.

The decisions of the Accreditation Council fall under the auspices of the following ministries:

Ministry of Culture (Denmark) ministry of Denmark

The Ministry of Culture Denmark is a ministry of the Danish Government, with responsibility for culture, sport and media.

The Council has nine members. At least one member must have international experience and one must be a student. Women and men are equally represented. The Council's decisions are made public in Danish on www.akkr.dk.

Operators

The Council's decisions are based on recommendations from the two accreditation operators, the Accreditation Institution and EVA. [2]

Accreditation Institution

The Accreditation Institution is the accreditation operator for bachelor, master's and professional master's programmes. The Accreditation Institution is an independent government institution made up of three secretariats and a management team.

A master's degree is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice. A master's degree normally requires previous study at the bachelor's level, either as a separate degree or as part of an integrated course. Within the area studied, master's graduates are expected to possess advanced knowledge of a specialized body of theoretical and applied topics; high order skills in analysis, critical evaluation, or professional application; and the ability to solve complex problems and think rigorously and independently.

The secretariat of an organization is the department that fulfils its central administrative or general secretary duties. The term is especially associated with governments and intergovernmental organizations such as the United Nations, although some non-governmental organizations also refer to their administrative department as their secretariat. The building or office complex that houses such a department may also be referred to as its secretariat or secretariat building.

The Professional Secretariat facilitates the accreditation of all Danish university study programmes. This involves preparation of a rotation plan for the study programmes, setting-up and preparation of expert panels to assess the study programmes, organising university visits and authoring the concluding reports.

The Council Secretariat prepares the Council's meetings and facilitates its contact and dialogue with stakeholders in different areas. These include the operators ACE Denmark and EVA as well as professional organisations, universities, student organisations, public authorities and the political environment, e.g. in the Danish Parliament.

The Administrative Unit reports to the director and undertakes assignments relating to communication, law, finance and general service functions.

EVA

EVA is the accreditation operator of professional bachelor, academy profession and diploma programmes as well as the specialisation courses (adult education and continuing training). In addition, EVA undertakes evaluations, development activities and studies of early childhood education, primary and lower secondary education, upper secondary education, higher education and adult education.

Accreditation method

The accreditation method involves a direct assessment of whether a study programme or an institution meets a number of predefined quality criteria. Accreditation is characterised by resulting in an authoritative approval/non-approval of a study programme or an institution. As a further result of the authoritative approval, the subject may obtain special rights such as the right to offer new study programmes and degrees. [1]

Quality and relevance criteria

Danish accreditation involves both existing study programmes and new study programmes which must be accredited before they may be set up. [1]

In Denmark, the quality and relevance of a study programme are assessed on the basis of five predefined criteria.

  1. Demand for the study programme in the labour market
  2. The study programme is based on research and connected with an active research environment of high quality
  3. Academic profile of the study programme and learning outcome targets
  4. Structure and organisation of the study programme
  5. Continuous internal quality assurance of the study programme [1]

Accreditation may result in three different decisions:

International standards

The accreditation method is based on the European standards and guidelines for quality assurance, the so-called ESGs. The ESGs were approved at the Bologna Ministerial Meeting in 2005 in Bergen, which set up a separate focus on professionalisation of quality assurance within higher education. The standards contain requirements for the universities, for external quality assurance and for external quality assurance institutions such as the Accreditation Institution and EVA. The Accreditation Institution and EVA are both members of ENQA, the European Association of Quality Assurance Agencies. [3] The Accreditation Institution has also been included in the European Register for Quality Assurance Agencies, EQAR. [4]

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "Explanatory Notes to the Draft Bill on the Accreditation Agency for Higher Education". The Accreditation Act.
  2. ↑ "Organisation / Agency details: The Accreditation Institution". INQAAHE. Retrieved 2012-03-17.
  3. ↑ "New member: The Danish Accreditation Institution, Denmark". European Consortium for Accreditation. January 10, 2011. Retrieved 2012-03-17.
  4. ↑ "The Danish Accreditation Institution". EQAR: Detailpage. Retrieved 2012-03-17.
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